Cereal-swelling machine



f 1927*. Aug 23, c. SUZUKI CEREM.; SWELLING MACHINE Filed March 26, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l l El' III/ll] fifi. ,5455/5 1 Aug. 23, 1927.

C. SUZUKI CEREAL swELLING MACHINE 2 sheetsl-sheet 2 Filed March 26, 1924 y lus Patentea Aug.' 23, 1927.

UNITED STATES GHUJmO SUZUKI, 0F TOKYO,

QEREAL-SWELLING MACHINE.

Application tiled March 26, 1924. Serial No. i702,157.

Thepresent invention relates to improvements in machines for puiing cereals such as wheat, rice etc. after the cereals have been shelled or hulled. v

It is the primary aim and object of this invention to provide a cereal putting machine which embodies generally a preheating means or the shelled cereal, feeding means associated with the preheating means and including valve lmeans for passing the cereal into a steaming chamber situated beneath the feeding means and in connection therewith and mea-ns for regulating the discharge of the treated or puted cereal from the steaming means.

As an additional object the invention includes the provision of a cereal-pufhng machine wherein means is rovided for drawing of products of con ensation that may accumulate within the steaming chamber.

Among the other aims and objects may be recited the provision of a machine ot the above character constructed with a view to com actness wherein the number of parts are ew, the construction simple, the cost of production low and the eiiiciency high.

In order that the invention may be thoroughly understood a more detailed description will now be given and reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of one emj bodiment according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of the above,

Fig. 3 is a detailed viewof Fig. 1, showing the cereals feeding device particularly,

gig. 4 is a sectional side view of Fig. 3 an Fig. 5 is a detailed view of Fig. 1, showing the steam drawing device particularly.

Referring to'the drawings, a casing 1, which constitutes the casing of the cerealsfeeding device, is mounted upon a verticalcylinder 2 constituting the high-pressure steam chamber 3. The casing 1 is funnel shaped, its dir/erging upper part 4 being adapted to receive cereals dropping from a.V preheating chamber 5 which is situated thereabove.

The llower part of the casing 1 is enlarged to provide a transversely disposed cylindrical chamber in which is positioned a rotary valve 6 of cruciform section,l the valve being itted in an airtight manne-r within the cylindrical chamber so as to prevent the escape of steam during' its rotation. Each of four chambers or compartments a, which are formed around the said valve, is adapted to be successivelyl positioned opposite to the A'steam chamber 3 and rotates to feed the cereals into the said steam chamber, while a port 7, which is provided in the shoulder 8 of the casing 1, serves to release the steam contained within the chambers a.

To the lower part 9 of the cylinder 2 is attached a discharge valve 10, by means of which the discharge of the treated cereals can be controlled according to the rotation of the cereals-feeding valve 6.

The high-pressure steam, which acts upon the cereals in the steam chamber 3, is injected into the upper part of the steam chamber through a hole 11 in a pipe 12 positioned in the upper part 9 of the cylinder 2, passing through al steam pipe 13, and mixed with the cereals, steaming and swelling them into favorable condition; thus the steam is linally discharged through the valve 10 with the treated cereals.

The interchanging of the steam can be effectively done by the steam-drawing device, provided in the lower part of the machine, which consists of a band of annular thin plates 14 superposed with respect to one another (Fig. 5) and a drain valve 15. the latter being adapted to cmmunicate with the former. A part of the steam is removed by the said drain valve through the annular thin plateswhich are used here in order toprevent the cereals from closing an orifice 16 between the steam chamber and drain valve.l

The operation of the present machine is as follows:

When the valve 6 is revolved andthe high-` pressure steam is introduced into the steam chamber 3,`the cereals previously heated in the preheating chamber 5 drop into the casing 1 and then are fed into the said steam chamber 3, meanwhile the port 7 in the shoulder of the casing releases the steam contained in the chambers. a, to facilitate the dropping of the cereals. Thus the cereals are treated so as to be pued in the chamber 3 and are finally discharged through the valve 10. n

It is of course to be understood that the machine described above may be modified in various manners without departing from the scope of this invention.

1. A. machine of the character described comprising preheatin means, feeding means arranged therebeneat including a cylinder casing, a hop-per above the casing and connected with the preheating means ing the material to the casing, a rotary va'lve arranged transversely witlnn the casing, a high preure steam chamberconnected to the bottom of the casing, means for conducting steam into the upper part of the steam chamber and exhausting it from the lower part thereof, a steam drawing device positioned at the bottom oft-the steam chamber including a lurality of superposed annular and relative ythin plates, and a drain/valve in communication with the space between the 'plates .and valve means connected with for guidthe means for exhausting the steam from the chamber for regulating the treated material from the chamber.

2. In a machine of the character described, a steam chamber, a casing above the chamber provided with a hopper, a. rotary valve of' cruciform section mounted-transversel of the casing, means for admlttmg steam into cHUJIRo UZUKI. 

